Currently an accessory, for example a paper-handling device associated with a printer, provides its capabilities to the printer, which in turn represents those capabilities to the outside world on its behalf. This is limiting, because the printer must be modified in order to represent unanticipated associated accessory capabilities.
Desktop computer applications typically either always attempt to collate, or always try to send multiple copies of the document to be printed. Existing desktop applications support collated printing only in a device- and platform-specific way. It would be advantageous in the art to have a system and method for collation and other associated accessory capabilities that are device-transparent and platform-independent.